Protest virtual - G8rally.com - sub semnul campaniei 'Make Poverty History'

Dacă summitul G8 are loc între 6 şi 8 iulie la Edinburgh, adiacent are loc o mişcare mult mai amplă ca număr de participanţi şi ca desfăşurare în timp: “Make Poverty History”, acţiunea de susţinere a cauzei ţărilor subdezvoltate în faţa liderilor G8. Ideea protestului virtual g8rally.com este una foarte originală, ea având ca obiectiv susţinerea acestei acţiuni completată şi cu seria de concerte Live 8. Având ca punct de plecare platforma creativă OpenAd.net, care a intrat de curând şi pe piaţa din România, ideea a apărut în urma unui pitch deschis pe site de revista Financial Times din Marea Britanie. În urma pitch-ului, conceptul agenţiei Agency Republic din Marea Britanie a fost desemnat câştigător. Prin acest concept le este oferită posibilitatea tuturor persoanelor din orice colţ al lumii care au acces la internet şi vor să susţină cauza ţărilor sărace în faţa liderilor G8, să-şi manifeste prezenţa printr-un protest virtual pe site-ul www.g8rally.com. Astfel, chiar şi fără o participare fizica, oamenii îşi pot completa numele pe lista pe lista celor peste 1 milion de susţinători prezenţi la concertele Live 8 si la demonstraţiile din Edinburgh (6-8 iulie).

Atât comunitatea creativă conectată la OpenAd.net, cât şi cititorii Financial Times au fost invitaţi să-şi trimită ideile pentru protestul G8 prin intermediul site-ului OpenAd.net (o platformă online pentru idei) în cadrul unei competiţii deschise tuturor celor interesaţi. Juriul a fost compus din experţi ai industriei de advertising cărora li s-a alăturat şi reprezentantul oficial al mişcării, celebrul scenarist american Richard Curtis. Câştigătoare, ideea protestului virtual G8 a fost transformată în realitate prin website-ul www.g8rally.com. Sute de mii de oameni din întreaga lume, inclusiv din România, se alătură astfel celor peste 1 milion de demonstranţi prezenţi la Edinburgh unde are loc summitul G8.

“Un protest virtual e cu adevărat o idee valoroasă. Este genul de campanie care naşte, aproape simultan cu apariţia ei, foarte mult PR; execuţia (site-ul) este foarte atractivă şi e foarte probabil să ajute la aducerea unei schimbări în bine în lume”, a declarat Peter Souter, director de creaţie BBDO Worldwide şi Deputy Chairman AMV.

2005 – a unique campaigning year

2005 was a year that saw global protest against poverty, injustice and inequality. It was the year in which powerful nations met to decide global policies on Debt, Trade and Aid. In Ireland, 46 groups – including international NGOs, trade unions and community groups – came together to form MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY Irish Campaign. 
MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY, which was part of a worldwide campaign known as the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, united under three key demands: Drop the Debt - Trade Justice - More and Better Aid.The demands were brought to the G8 Summit in Edinburgh in July, to the UN Summit in New York in September and to the World Trade Organisation Ministerial in Hong Kong in December. Support for MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY came from all quarters – from student and campaign groups to religious groups, trade unions to the general public, school children to musicians. Using the symbol of the white band, campaigners came together on three occasions to demand an end to poverty and injustice:

> June 2005 – 20,000 people attended the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY rally in Dublin, gathering outside Dáil Eireann to call for action on Overseas Aid.

> MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY Irish Campaign also attended the G8 demonstration in Edinburgh, where 250,000 took to the streets. 

 > September 2005 – An overnight sit-out was held outside the Dáil to increase pressure on the government to commit to the UN target on Overseas Aid.

> December 2005 – Thousands of Christmas cards were sent to Taoiseach Bertie Ahern TD<>

MORE AND BETTER AID

Poverty will not be eradicated without an immediate and major increase in international aid. Rich countries have promised to provide the extra money needed to meet internationally agreed poverty reduction targets. This amounts to at least £28 billion per year, according to the United Nations, and must be delivered now. As industrialised countries have grown richer over recent decades, the proportion of their wealth that they spend on helping people in poorer countries has decreased. In 1970, most industrialised countries promised to spend 0.7% of their national income on international aid. 35 years on, most are spending only a fraction of what they promised. The UK does not plan to spend 0.7% of its income on aid until 2013. As well as more aid, we need better aid – aid that is targeted at meeting poor people’s basic needs, such as healthcare and education.
Aid should no longer be tied to a requirement to buy goods or services from the donor country. And it should not be conditional on recipients promising economic change like privatising or deregulating their services, cutting health and education spending or opening up their markets to competition. These are unfair practices that have never been proven to reduce poverty.

Make Poverty History Campaign in Australia

Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA, the overseas humanitarian aid arm of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), supports the Make Poverty History campaign internationally and in Australia. The international solidarity of working people against oppression and poverty has always been central to our movement. The aim of this campaign is to put pressure on governments around the world to take action for global poverty, focussing on three slogans:
More and better aid, Drop the debt, Trade justice. The Make Poverty History campaign seeks to build on some limited successes in recent years: the Jubilee campaign's success in gaining debt relief for heavily indebted nations, increasing official and philanthropic aid, and the global debate about free trade in the lead up to, and after the Doha meeting of WTO.

According to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), "trade unions are joining with others all around the world in the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, demanding that the grand promises made by governments at the United Nations and elsewhere should be put into action urgently. Creating decent jobs for all has never been more important, as divisions between the haves and the have-nots in the global economy grow ever greater. One billion people are unemployed, underemployed or working poor: 60% of these are women. In the Global Call, we demand debt relief to the poorest countries, greatly increased development aid and justice in the global trading system."

More than a billion people live on less than US $1 per day. In neighbouring countries, poverty is becoming more severe; in Indonesia more than 70 million now live in absolute poverty, and in PNG, Solomon Islands and East Timor the majority of people live on less than $1 per day. On the other hand in the decade beginning 1996, the 85,400 people who each have assets more than US $30 million have doubled their wealth, and now own 24% of the world's capital( Merril Lynch Capgemini, 26 June 2006). Official global overseas development aid in 2004 was US$79 billion, while total expenditure on advertising was US$570.

Make Poverty History – pe agenda ADRA Internaţional

Bucuresti, 05 Iulie 2005 - În cadrul celei de-a 58-a sesiuni a Conferinţei Generale, Biserica Adventistă de Ziua a Şaptea ridică problema sărăciei şi a foametei în aşteptarea summit-ului G8 ce se va desfăşura la Gleneagles, Scoţia în 6-8 iulie.Membri scoţieni ai Bisericile Adventiste de Ziua a Şaptea din Crieff şi Edinburgh au fost printre cei 225.000 de participanţi la campaniile împotriva sărăciei care şi-au dat mâinile şi au format un imens lanţ uman în jurul Edinburgh-ului ca parte a demonstraţiei "Make Poverty History".Biserica din Crieff este cea mai apropiată Biserică Adventistă de Ziua a Şaptea de locaţia summit-ului G8, doar 14 kilometri. Cu această ocazie, Steve Logan, membru al Bisericii Adventiste locale, i-a convins pe creştinii din zonă să realizeze protestul "Make Poverty History" şi la nivel local. În acest scop ei vor organiza o zi specială de rugăciune pentru liderii G8 şi pentru deciziile ce vor fi luate cu această ocazie. Referindu-se la demonstraţiile din zilele anterioare, Lewis a declarat: "Sunt fericit că am putut fi acolo, că am participat la cea mai mare demonstraţie de acest gen din Scoţia. Pe termen lung, ne dorim să continuăm proiectul Make Poverty History prin acţiuni concrete care să aibă un impact real în ţările în curs de dezvoltare."

În Philadelphia, adventiştii au avut o contribuţie semnificativă în realizarea concertului Live 8, unul dintre cele zece concerte din întreaga lume care preced summit-ul G8. Centrul Adventist de Resurse Umanitare din Philadelphia au asigurat, împreună cu alţi parteneri adventişti, asistenţa medicală pe parcursul festivalului care a însoţit concertul. Prin intermediul unui trailer lung de 18 metri, mii de persoane au primit îngrijiri medicale, teste de sănătate şi sfaturi avizate. Acesta a fost un mod concret de luptă împotriva sărăciei întrucât ajutorul a fost acordat unor persoane care nu aveau asigurare medicală şi prin urmare nu-şi puteau permite teste şi consultaţii într-un centru medical.

Make Poverty History Platform

At the start of the 21st century 1.2 billion people live in abject poverty, most of them women. More than 800 million people go to bed hungry and 50,000 people die every day from poverty-related causes. It doesn’t have to be this way. If we choose — if we have the will to act — we can make poverty history.Poverty is a violation of human rights on a massive scale. Nearly five years ago, all members of the United Nations committed to “spare no effort” in tackling poverty by adopting the Millennium Declaration. Governments also launched the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to meet minimum targets to reduce poverty, hunger, illiteracy, discrimination against women, and environmental degradation by 2015. But the pace of action is too slow. If we hold the present course, we will fail to meet these targets. And the poor will pay the price.The Asian tsunami showed that Canadians, including the Canadian government, care deeply and react generously when the world is faced with humanitarian disasters. But short-term relief is not enough. We need a shift in national and international policies to eliminate poverty.
It’s time for real action. In 2005, campaigns to end poverty have been launched world wide. If everyone who wants to end poverty speaks at the same time, world leaders will be forced to listen.
Canada’s campaign to end poverty, Make Poverty History, calls for urgent and meaningful policy change. Here’s what we want in 14 words: More and Better Aid. Trade Justice. Cancel the Debt. End Child Poverty in Canada.